In recent years, in dye image forming methods making use of light-sensitive silver halide color photographic materials, it is common to carry out high-temperature photographic processing and save processing steps so that photographic processing can be completed in a shorter time. In particular, in order to shorten the photographic processing time in high-temperature rapid processing, it is very important to increase the rate of development in color development.
Light-sensitive silver halide color photographic materials having a silver halide emulsion layer containing silver halide grains substantially composed of silver chloride (hereinafter "silver chloride color photographic material(s)" are known to enable much more rapid processing than conventional silver chlorobromide color photographic materials. However, color photographic materials containing single-component silver halide grains substantially composed of silver chloride have a poor renderability in a shadow portion of image.
In order to solve this problem, Japanese Patent Publications Open to Public Inspection (hereinafter "Japanese Patent O.P.I. Publication(s)") No. 148049/1984, No. 718383/1985, No. 172348/1987 and No. 5234/1987 disclose use of a mixture of silver halide emulsions made different in grain size, crystal habit or composition of silver halide grains to have different sensitivities. However, in a magenta coupler represented by Formula I described later, there has been an undesirable problem of color mixture occurring when color development is carried out.
This color mixture is a phenomenon caused when an oxidized product of a color developing agent, produced as a result of color development, diffusingly moves to other silver halide emulsion layer during color photographic processing and couples with a coupler present in and for that layer to form color.
As a countermeasure to prevent this color mixture, a method is widely employed in which an intermediate layer to which a non-diffusible hydroquinone compound has been added is provided between silver halide emulsion layers and the oxidized product of a developing agent that has diffused is reduced and captured in the intermediate layer so that its coupling ability is lost.
Non-diffusible hydroquinone compounds usable for such purpose of preventing color mixture are disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,336,327, 2,360,290, 2,384,658, 2,675,532, 2,728,659, 2,732,300 and 3,700,453 and Japanese Patent Examined publications No. 40818/1981 and No. 3404/1978.
In Japanese Patent O.P.I. publication No. 143544/1985, use of a hydroquinone compound having tertiary alkyl groups at the 2- and 5-positions and a hydroquinone compound having a secondary alkyl group at the 2-position is disclosed.